Hunted Read Free Page A

to get as far away
from them as possible. I don’t plan to die on this rock.”
    Knutsen spat sand and wiped his mouth. “Agreed.
Let’s move out.”
    They set off, walking as quickly as they could in
the shifting sand. Changing direction to the west, they used
whatever rocks they could find for cover, trying to make it as hard
as possible to be seen by whatever was coming. Thankfully, it
appeared that there would be little chance of anyone following
their footprints, as the wind started to pick up again and they
were soon erased.
    Jensen stumbled and Knutsen moved to help, wrapping
one of the man’s arms over his shoulder. Supporting half his
weight, Knutsen urged him on.
    The day ended abruptly as the sun sank below the
horizon. Darkness was not absolute, as the evening sky was awash
with stars. Palsenz’ own tiny moon appeared as a bright dot, moving
over the surface of the night.
    Exhaustion brought the group to a halt soon enough,
and they huddled in the lee of an overhanging rock that was not
quite a cave, though it did provide some protection from the
wind.
    Stephanie rolled a head-sized rock into the half
circle of their shelter. Then she fired her multigun with a low
power setting at it. She held a continuous beam on the stone until
it began to glow white-hot.
    That done, they shared some rations and sat back,
the heat radiating from the rock suffusing them with more than just
its warmth. It comforted them, made them feel somehow less
vulnerable.
    Jensen carefully maneuvered himself into a supine
position. His breathing was ragged, and he had a waxy complexion to
this skin. Stephanie put two fingers on his neck.
    “Relax. I just want to check your pulse.”
    Jensen gave the barest of nods. His pulse was fast.
She did not need to time it to know he was experiencing problems.
Plus he felt hot. There was a thermometer in the medkit and she
fished it out, pressing it against his neck. A moment later it
beeped. 103 degrees. He was burning up.
    She poked about in the medkit bag and found a strip
of pills marked ‘General Antibiotic.’ She examined the
instructions, then popped two out. She passed Jensen a bottle of
water and the pills.
    “We’ll need to keep a watch during the night,” said
Knutsen.
    Jensen struggled to raise himself, but Stephanie
pushed him back down. “No. Not you. You’re on meds, have a damaged
lung and a fever. We’ll manage.”
Knutsen nodded approvingly. “Steph, I’m pretty wiped. Can you take
the first two hours, then wake me?”
    “Absolutely. Don’t worry. I’ll keep the rock
hot.”
    * * *
    Stephanie didn’t wake Knutsen at the appointed time.
Instead, she took a walk, making her way to a high point of jutting
stone a short distance from the camp. She climbed it, then settled
in, wedged between two twisting spires. From her position she could
see the sleeping men, the heat rock still glowing a faint red. But
she could also see the wider plain, and even though it was night,
there was sufficient light to make out the nearby rocks and
dunes.
    She snapped open the sight-port on the multigun and
lifted it to her eye. Scanning the horizon, focusing on the east,
she searched for any sign of movement. Nothing. Switching to
infrared, she tried again.
    The desert was an even tone of yellow with patches
here and there of darker umber, indicating warmer sand. But there
was nothing ‘hot’ out there. Stephanie let out her breath, unaware
she had been holding it. Whatever had been trying to track them was
gone.
    She grinned and was about to jump down when some
instinct made her look again. This time she scanned the area much
closer to their camp, less than a klick distant. And there it was,
something moving, registering as a brilliant red blob in her gun
sights. Then another and another. Three high heat sources slowly
converging on the location of the overhang under which Knutsen and
Jensen lay sleeping.
    Her stomach clenched, and without thought she
thumbed the safety off the multigun,